All posts by Soda_Pop

Not everyone can make a good Kydex Holster, but Blade Tech can

Blade Tech HolstersThere are a lot of products I never bothered to look up or research until our customers started asking about them.  One of the biggest reasons people discover Blade Tech is when they find out that Blackhawk and Safariland don’t make a holster for them.  The other major thing is paddle holsters that take flashlights.   Now it’s pretty common to see people with lights on firearm, it wasn’t that common 10years ago.   Weapon mounted lights like the Surefire X300 and X400 and the Streamlight TLR-1 Series are definitely worth consideration even for CCW.

Paddle holsters can vary in weight and how far they protrude out from the body,   I love my Safariland ALS holsters but it is very heavy and not that easy to get on and off, that’s the way it’s designed to be.  We avoid dealing with too many holster brands because everyone seems to have a variation of the same thing, but we have seen a lot of kydex holsters break but not Blade Tech Holsters.  Much of the reason is that they were designed properly.  They seem to cater to Glock heavily but they do make a nice IWB holster for the Smith & Wesson Shield which is one of the top 2 gun holsters people are looking for.

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Optics can inhibit performance, that’s why Trijicon RMR sight’s clarity sells it

Trijicon RMR sightsTrijicon RM08GWe’re in the midst of some major technological advancements and you  can clearly see that with all of the flashlights that are coming out, output, run time, durability have all improved, but we’re also seeing major in the world of rifle optics.  We see illuminated optics on crossbows, solar powered red dots, everything is becoming quick detach and everyone is now getting into the red dot market.  That’s all fine and dandy for certain types of shooting, but if you want precision, you need clarity.

Everyone has their preferences in what they want, and what fits your level of shooting abilities is your decision, but many optics can inhibit your ability to be precise, especially for longer range shooting.  If your red dot is too big, or powered too high it can block your ability to see your target.  Trijicon RMR sights come in two configurations, the fiber optics/tritium or the adjustable LED.  There is something to be said for optics with variable power for low light or sunny days, but everytime I play around with all of these red dots out there and then pick up a Trijicon RM08G and see the level of precision and clarity of the triangle or the clarity  of the Trijicon RMO1 red dot, I see what’s still missing in the competition, I see a dot, not a bunch of fuzz.

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Gunvault Gunsafes not enough people are using them

Gunvault safesI’ve been using Gunvault safes for close to 20yrs, ever since I had to worry about kids in my house finding out where I kept them.   There’s a certain age you can’t teach children to be obedient and unfortunately, lack of parental responsibility leads to deaths.   Gun cleaning accidents, hunting accidents and people thinking their kids don’t know where they hide their gun are guilty of complacency.  Back  in the day, an NRA sticker on your car meant nobody would mess with you, but now it can mean they know you own guns and are going to break into your house.  Smash and grabs are a modern reality and they work much like a Football play.

Not only lock  your guns up, hide the gun safe.   Put it in an area where it can’t be scene, stock towels or clothing on top of it.   I do admit that I’m not the biggest fan of biometric technology because finger prints can be copied and dead bodies can be dragged over to a safe to have their fingers open the safe.    The push button combination are probable my first choice for Gunvault safes and combination and key opening safes are best for cars or your hunting and target shooting rifles, not for home defense.

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Ballistic Plate Carriers can make nice Molle Vests

When we first started bringing in all of these various Outer Carriers from 5.11 Tactical, Voodoo Tactical, Armor Express and Condor,  it was amazing to have to learn all of the pros and cons of each vest.  We sometimes just bring in something different and throw it up on a wall and see what our customers have to say about it.  One thing we’ve learned is price points matter.  Most of our customer base don’t seem to want to spend more than $230 on them and Tactical Tailor is about as high as we go with our present customers.  The Special Ops guys tell me a lot about London Bridge carriers and love them but they start around $300 on up to well over $1000.

Condor is considered entry level but we’ve outfitted more than a few Law Enforcement with them, many in this market have the vests in their patrol vehicle for the “what ifs” that their departments make mandatory. If you don’t need ballistic plates these carriers make nice molle vests.  There’s nothing wrong with spending money on these but if you are going to be loading them up with tons of full molle pouches don’t expect to have them last as long as products made my Armor Express or London Bridge.   We have gotten negative feedback about AR500 side plate fits on some of the Condor Plate carriers like the Operator II, and even the Banshee (made by shellback)  it seems that the the AR500 paxon build up makes the plates thicker and they just barely fit.  Do you really need side plates? We contacted AR500 Armor about this and they informed us that they are no longer selling the Banshee Carriers with the side panels and are now making their own custom redesign for another $35.  That puts the Banshee close to $200.  We’re moving towards stocking Armor Express ceramic plates and Armor Express Outer CarriersBallistic Plate Outer Carriers since they seem to be at another tier.

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Eotech Holographic Sights in the Modern Market

Eotech EXPS2-0 Eotech 300 Blackout Eotech Holographic Gun Sights

 

I can’t confirm why it happened but I heard a credible rumor from one of my sales reps that there has been a shortage on Eotech sights because L3 shutdown their manufacturer facility to retool and bring in new manufacturing equipment.   I guess that means the new Eotech 512 sights that just came are right off the new tools.   I do notice that the body of the Eotech 512 does look a little more polished but other than that, nothing has changed.  It will be real interesting to see how the Trijicon MRO competes in the red dot market, but Eotechs seem to have always been kind of one foot in the red dot market and one foot out.

The thing that always sold me on the Eotech Holographic Gun Sights are the field of view.   Most military engagements are still under 200yds and air strikes usually for things further out than that, so the need for magnification is minimal.   Considering what the ballistics of the 5.56 Nato round is, it’s such a flat shooting round that there are no extreme hold overs under 400yds if it’s zeroed properly.   I do tend to lean toward the EXPS 2-0 Models since adding an Eotech Magnifier to the setup is much easier, but only if you are right handed, that is one reason Trijicon put the adjustment knob on the top of the MRO so maybe that’s something else Eotech is going to want to consider.   They also recently released an Eotech for the 300 Blackout so if you are running 300 Blackout, you have an Eotech option.

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Range Trips and Carbine Course, think about Camelbak Hydration Packs

Camlebak Hydration PacksCamelbak ArmoBak MulticamThere seems to have been a major awareness taking place in our society about having a radio, water filtration and food storage. These were things that use to be taught in Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts, but I’m finding my generation was one of the last that actually went through these and membership to those organizations has dramatically declined.  Knowing how to pack for 3 days and have food and water or not “overpack” is a skill many do not have.   I often refer to Paul Howe talking about his time in Somalia where guys in Combat were taking helmets and plates off because it wore them down and they felt moving was more important than operating like a tank.

There are a great many things that have made life easier and performing in competition shooting events  isn’t just about how well you can point and shoot, it’s about your physical stamina.  I’ve heard of guys passing out on ranges because they were so out of shape that they passed out when they went prone.   Eating right and keeping hydrated is extremely important to prevent fatigue.   Camelbak Hydration packs aren’t complicated and are not that difficult to clean, the biggest warning I’d say it be careful what you put in them.  I usually use the Camelbak Elixir Lemon Lime but something like Tang or Gatorade are fine.  I usually water them down so it’s flavored water because the more sugary stuff you use the sooner you’re going to want to clean it up and the harder it’s going to be clean.  There are some really good Youtube videos from Camelbak that show you all of the functions of the pack.

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Saving lives is a lot easier than you think, you just have to have the Combat Medical Gear to do it

Combat Medical SuppliesI recently heard about two accidental shootings, one during a SWAT training and one during a competition shooting event at My gun club last year.   The good thing about the SWAT training event was that there were SWAT medics on the scene and one of them told me that they needed two tourniquets to stop the bleeding after an Officer shot himself in the last when re-holstering his sidearm.  Now I keep two Tourniquets in my range bag.  The total cost of both of them a SWAT-T Tourniquet and a North American Rescue CAT Tourniquet.  There are different types of packaging for Quikclot but according to the people that use it there’s no practical difference between the Sport Quikclot and the Combat gauze.   They cost anywhere from $17 to $25 while the Combat Gauze is usually in the $30 range.

We are running a promo on some of the basic combat medical supplies and packing them ourselves to try and get our customer base, since the vast majority of them are around firearms, to spend $40-$80 on these basic life saving tools because stopping bleeding is not a hard thing to do anymore.  The vast majority of gun shot wounds are survivable due to recent technological improvements.  Last year, at my gun club during a 3 gun match, one of the people there shot himself in the foot.  Out of all of the people attending the match, only one person had an IFAK.  Those are pretty bad statistics and instead of 250rds of 45acp, maybe you should consider buying into this.

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Fox Labs Pepper Sprays, Stream, Cone and Foam, how do you use it?

Fox Labs Pepper SpraysThere are a lot of different options out there for less lethal devices,  I’m more in the pepper spray camp than the taser be a little too expensive or too much of a hassle.  The idea of spending $600 on a taser instead of buying a new Glock for self defense isn’t my idea of spending money wisely and really more of a Law Enforcement device than a Civilian option.  Some of those hand held tasers where you have to walk up to someone isn’t a good tactic in the real world.  Distance is always a better option in every defensive scenario.   As someone who had to be certified to carry pepper spray, I’ve had some of this stuff tested on me and been in rooms where it was used and went home with varying degrees of fallout.

Pepper sprays can get real sloppy if not used properly and I think there are not enough guys out there teaching their girlfriends or wives how to use it.  I often ask the women who tell me they carry the keychain products if they know how to deploy it and probable 75% don’t know to aim for the eyes.  Other little things to know about pepper sprays is that they expire and all also need to be shaken from time to time.   I think Fox Labs pepper sprays in the Stream pattern are the most versatile and fog really isn’t good for anything but multiple attackers and best for crowd control, but you better make sure you know which way the wind is blowing.  The Cone pepper sprays are pretty much in the Fog category and doesn’t make much difference to me.  Foam pepper sprays are best left for club bouncers or security officers because a well trained criminal is going to know that if they get hit in the face with a Foam agent, all they have to do is scrape it off and throw it back at  you.

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Magpul Discontinuing the MOE Handguards for the New M-Lok

Magpul M-Lok HandguardsI  have always been a fan of Magpul products because they get the job done, are not over priced, and I personally have not heard of any high rates of breakage with their entire product line.  I’m pretty sure their durability stems from their Magpul PMAG reputation and when you are making something like that, that can be driven over by a car and still run, there’s not much to worry about if you are buying a grip or a stock from them.   We are always watching to see where the accessories market is moving because it’s a money maker, but we don’t like dealing with products that have very little history of being on the market.  Just think about what the value of all of the quadrails are from 10yrs ago and what the resell prices are.  Hardly anyone need a quad-rail in the first place which is why I always liked the Magpul MOE Handguards.

The MOE Handguards were a better starting point for people that thought they may add accessories later, and didn’t want to have all that metal with the original configuration.   The K-Mod and M-Lok systems seem to be the future because according to Magpul, they did a lot of testing an knew they had to do a slight change to the way the MOE handguards would sold.  From what I hear, they are still going to make the rail accessories for the MOE Handguard, but they are now discontinuing the stock accessory for the M-Lok.  Who knows where the AR15 will be 10yrs from now, but it might be time you take a look at the new way to attach flashlight, lasers, optics, sights ect on your AR.

 

 

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Agilite Hi Vest, pre-configured but still versatile

Agilite Hi VestI have been a fan of the Agilite Hi-Vest for a very long time, one of the only negatives about it is that it is made overseas and sometimes there are delays in getting inventory.   If you are looking for a good tactical vest, there are a lot of options out there but they can get expensive real fast once you add on the cost of the pouches.  Many people started out with Molle Vests but we don’t see much use for those since plate carriers have pretty much replaced them.  If you don’t want or need plates, you still have a molle vest.  For most deployments, you are going to want your gear high on your chest so its easy to retrieve withing your visible work space.

The best thing about the Agilite Hi-Vest is how comfortable it is to wear and you don’t feel your magazines, radio ect pushing into you.  There is a lanyard attachment if you choose to use it and we have found that a lot of United States Border Security like this vest because it’s more comfortable to wear.   You have much more mobility with all of your gear strategically placed.   One of the big features that several recent customers have told us the reason they wanted this vest was it had pouches big enough to stow a suppressor in.  That’s something I never thought about until now, and with so many purchasing suppressors, why not have a tactical vest you can stow an IFAK, Suppressor, Mags, paracord, batteriesIsraeli Agilite Hi Vest Storage and more.  There is also the Agilite Hi-Vest with the AMAP bag that you can always buy later but probable something you might want to get and take it off if you don’t feel you need it.  Check out the videos for the product.

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